Point guard rankings

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In just one week, the NBA will officially put the offseason to rest and open up training camps across the country. In anticipation of that, we’re breaking down the best players at all five positions this week, starting today with the burgeoning point guard spot.

With the help of scouts, league executives, stat-crunching and common sense, we’ve arranged the best 15 point guards in the league:

In a crowded field of point guards, Paul remains the consensus No. 1. He is a master runner of the pick-and-roll, an opportunistic defender (2.5 steals, leading the league for the fifth time in the last six seasons) and is capable of taking a game over in crunch time.

He is at his peak and with coach Doc Rivers, a stacked supporting cast and new shooters Jared Dudley and J.J. Redick, he has the kind of team around him that can legitimately contend for a championship.

Parker put together what was arguably the best season of his career last season, continuing to take on a bigger offensive role as Manu Ginobili ages.

He ran the Spurs’ offense to perfection, but also had his best overall shooting year, making 52.2 percent from the field, a solid 35.3 percent from the 3-point line and—an underrated improvement for him—84.5 percent from the free-throw line. He is the engine that drives the defending West champs.

The Thunder’s hopes of a return to the Finals fell apart when Westbrook suffered a knee injury in the first round of the playoffs—a notable event because Westbrook had not missed a regular-season game in his career.

Westbrook still struggles with his 3-point shot (32.3 percent), but he has improved as a playmaker and his ability to attack the basket and finish at the rim keeps him among the league’s elite.

A year ago, the Warriors took some heat for having granted the oft-injured Curry a four-year contract, but he rewarded their faith and then some last season, playing 78 games and achieving an All-Star caliber level.

Not only that, but he proved to be a clutch postseason performer, leading the Warriors into the second round with 23.4 points and 8.1 assists. The next step for Curry is to attack the rim more, but in terms of shooting, he is among the best in the league—45.3 percent from the 3-point line and 90.0 percent from the free-throw line.

There is no way to know how much Rose will be able to give the Bulls this season, after missing all of last year while recovering from knee surgery.

He was the MVP in 2010, but considering he will need game experience to get his timing and explosiveness back, he won’t be the same player for at least a few months, if at all this year. But when Rose is right, he is a top-tier point guard.

Irving backed up his outstanding rookie year performance with a similarly efficient sophomore campaign, shooting 39.1 percent from the 3-point line and 85.5 percent from the foul line.

He knows well that he is expected to make the leap to stardom here in his third season, and part of that will be to lead the Cavaliers out of the East basement and into the playoffs for the first time since the team’s last No. 1 overall pick left town.

It was only a few years ago that Williams rivaled Chris Paul for the title of best point man in the game, but things pretty much fell apart once Williams joined the Nets.

He was approaching his old form last year (44.0 shooting percent from the field, up from 40.9 percent and 2.8 turnovers, down from 4.0), but needs to raise his level now that the Nets have a potential championship contender in Brooklyn.

Rumors of an impending Rondo trade were overblown this summer, especially as he continues to rehab from an ACL injury suffered in January. The Celtics are revamping with youth, and they will at least give Rondo the opportunity to make this his team before they decide what to do about his future.

Rondo is the slickest passer in the NBA, and while he could frustrate fans and coaches with his nonchalance at times, he will have a lot to prove this season. He remains the best rebounding point guard in the league, and most don’t realize he shot 50.8 percent from 16 feet and out last year.

We only got a half-season glimpse, but when Wall returned from a training camp knee injury last year, he showed the kind of improvements the Wizards had been anxiously awaiting from the former No. 1 pick. He cut back on his turnovers and greatly increased his offensive efficiency, with career highs in shooting from the field (44.0 percent) and free-throw line (80.4 percent).

While getting to the rim is his bread-and-butter, he developed a good intermediary game, and his midrange jumper took a leap forward. Wall still needs a 3-point shot—he has shot 24.3 from the arc in his career—but he has already diversified his offense.

Conley’s performance last year was widely overlooked, but the Grizzlies, in trading away Rudy Gay, seemed to recognize that Conley had the ability to make up for Gay’s lost points.

After the All-Star break, Conley averaged 16.7 points and shot 46.0 percent, up from 13.3 points and 42.6 percent. Conley will turn 26 in October and, with Gay gone, figures to continue to flash his newfound offensive confidence.

Lawson’s shooting percentage has dropped each of his four seasons in the league, which isn’t terrible seeing as he came into the league shooting 51.5 percent as a rookie and was at 46.1 percent last year. But the drop-off from 2012 to last season is fairly disturbing, as Lawson seemed to lose his short- and mid-range magic.

From 3-to-10 feet, Lawson’s shooting dropped from 46.6 percent to 31.7 percent, and from 10-to-16 feet, he went from 51.4 percent to 34.6 percent. The good news is that much of Lawson’s decline came from an early-season slump—he shot 50.4 percent from the field after the All-Star break.

Holiday continued to show progress in his fourth season, and was selected—probably prematurely—for the All-Star game. The big issue remains turnovers (3.7 per game) and unless he corrals his mistakes and begins playing smarter, he will continue to be a second-tier point guard.

He did well to go to the free-throw line a career-high 3.1 times per game last year, but he shot a career-low 75.2 percent on foul shots. The thing to remember about Holiday, though, is that he is heading into his fifth season and is only 23.

There is no question as to why Calderon cracks this list—he was incredible from the 3-point line last year. Over the course of his career, Calderon has been a good perimeter shooter, making 38.1 percent from the arc, but he was outstanding in his first 45 games, with Toronto, making 42.9 percent.

After arriving in Detroit, though, Calderon went bonkers, making 52.0 percent of his 3s and finishing with a league-best 46.1 percent mark. He is 32, and though he is still a very good playmaker, he could stay in the league for a long time yet if he keeps shooting that way.

Lillard is a blur with the ball, and that is his best weapon. The Blazers clearly were not afraid to throw him into the fire last year—he led the league in total minutes—and considering he is 23, older than the likes of Irving and Wall, that was probably a good idea.

In order to make the transition to quality point guard, he will need to be a better playmaker, but he has the scoring instincts to ascend this list.